Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Sadly, the fun evening was ruined when a heated debate over whether Jaws 2 cards were worth as much as Empire Strikes Back in "flipsies", caused Richard to call his mom to pick him up.*(*based on a true story and for the record, Empire Strikes Back were totally worth at least two of your crappy Jaws 2 cards, Richard!)

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

I love Presto Magix and I recently appeared on the Super Mates podcast to extoll their virtue. One of the things I discussed was this Batman and Robin set, one of my favourites and the really weird variation. Above is the later released version and features some beautiful stock art of Batman and Robin.

And this is the early, weird version that looks like a sixth grader drew the caped crusaders. It's so weird, everything is beautifully drawn in this picture except for Batman and Robin?

Robin seems to have forgotten to bring his underpants...and crotch. I would love to know what happened here...

Saturday, January 24, 2015

I'm proud to finally announce that Odeon's latest action figure, Captain Canuck is now available to order.

For years, I had been struggling to find an iconic Canadian character to bring to market, many of the attempts dissolved when rights weren't clear. Which was kind of a bummer.

Thanks to my friend and partner in this Sam Noir, I was introduced to the good people at Big B Comics and Captain Canuck Inc, who are as responsible for this as I can claim to be.

Captain Canuck definitely resonated with me as an Ontario lad, I distinctly remember him drawing pictures of him saving the prime minister (with a thought balloon of "why am i saving this guy?", because at 8, I was a master of political satire.). If I had seen this hanging on the shelf of my local Woolco in 1976, it would have been mine.

And Hey, if you're in Canada and want one today, you're in luck, it's Captain Canuck day! The figure is launching in comic stores like Big B and Strange Adventures (pictured above) right now in cities from Coast to Coast, here is a list.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Discovered this in some documents featuring Ideal toys from 1976 that I'll feature on the site in the very near future, a photo of the different Ideal toys store displays, the belle of the ball being Mr Knievel.

The displays for Mousetrap and the Junkyard game are particularly inspired, I miss the days of paintings on toy boxes...

Thursday, January 22, 2015

I stumbled on this great toy fair ad for Crystar today and it reminded me of the first time I saw the line in a Liesure World as a kid (a store that rarely carried action figures BTW). Remco and Marvel teamed up on this and it seemed like it would have been a big hit but this was the age of animation mixed with toys, so the saga was markedly short, Crystar doesn't appear in the 1984 Remco catalog.

I love showing this picture, from the 1983 Remco showroom, note the proof cards behind our hero. Wonder where these costumes are now?

Friday, January 16, 2015

Fleetwood toys was one of the biggest and most prolific manufacturers of Rack Toys during the 1970s and 80s.

In 1977, they were truly on top of their game as evidenced by the massive amount of licenses they had this year including the Marvel Comics Superheroes, Welcome Back Kotter, Starsky and Hutch, The Rookies, SWAT, Tarzan, the Space Sentinels even Ba-Ba Blacksheep!

It's so jam packed with cool rack toys, there is no way you can't find something you like.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Thanks to my new pal Uzay Bluestar, I have another entry in "never seen it before" category. Inflatable toys are sometimes the wild west in terms of information(not unlike rack toys) so it's not surprising that I didn't know this existed but I'm happy it does.Does anyone recognize that logo?

Pegasus has the film's title on his chest, just like he did in the film.

Bubu on one side of the saddle.

Kraken on the other, nary a Harry Hamlin to be found on this thing.More Clash of the Titans Merch

Friday, January 09, 2015

We're back and we're launching our first episode of 2015 resurrecting the Retro Awards.

For those not familiar with the Retro Awards, it's a celebration of things that came out in the last year (for this show we've slid into 2013 a l'il bit) that we feel rocked a 70s vibe.

Of course along the way we get terribly sidetracked and discuss the Hudson brothers, Planet of the Apes, Doctor Who annuals, Herve Villechez and Tim Burton's Batman. Surprising we're still better at hosting awards shows than James Franco...